Air Jordan IX (1993)

On October 6th 1993, Michael Jordan announced his decision to retire from the NBA, spelling potential doom for the signature shoe line. The Jordan IX was a durable and plain shoe at first glance, but it came with lots of interesting details such as the large 23 stitched on the back of the shoe and the multi-lingual words on the soles of both shoes. The words and the available translations are listed below.

Right Shoe

• dédié (French) dedicated
• fuerza (Spanish) - force
• intenso (Italian) - intense
• liberté (French) - freedom
• anmutig (German) - graceful

• спорт (Russian) - sport
• uhuru (Swahili) - independence
• свобода (Russian) - freedom
• athletisch (German) - athletic
• muundaji (Swahili) - hope